Pier 39, San Francisco – Day 2, Part 1

The next morning of our trip, we all woke up early so we can cover a lot of ground that day. It was a beautiful morning in a beautiful room. I slept beside a radiator (that we didn’t use).

(I wore my sleep socks, to protect me from the cold. LOL)

I also slept beside the window. I peek out early in the morning and see people milling about down in the street.

I wonder if some day I’d be one of the people milling about in a street in the US……… hmm..

Anyways, we all got ready and headed out. First thing we did was take a photo of an unmoving cable car! A MUST when visiting San Francisco!

We walked around for a bit, looking for a mode of transportation we could take to Pier 39, our destination for the day.

(Mom insisted on a photo with the flowers.)

We finally found the car we needed to take to get to Pier 39. It was one of those cable buses that traveled along the streets of San Fran on wires above the roads. It’s different from the cable cars. It’s also cheaper to take these buses instead of the cable cars.

It was a pretty cramped ride. It was hot, too. X__x

The bus rolled down the street until we reached the piers. The piers were arranged numerically so the bus passes by the earlier piers. We got off early so we could walk along the sidewalk and do a bit of sight seeing before we explore Pier 39. Only problem was we got off a bit too early… and it was HOT. The sun was out and we were all dressed for the cold.

No choice but to go on, though. And we did.

Beautiful, blue waters by the pier.

Romantic walk, anyone? LOL

By one of the piers, we saw an interesting installation.

They’re hanging monkeys and a snake… and an apple. People were tapping away at drums (?) at the base of the tower and the thing started moving. There are monkey masks that you can use to view the spinning monkeys and I think you’re supposed to see a sequence. The snake slithers towards the monkey with an apple and the monkey eats the apple… (?) I didn’t really get a chance to see it with the mask on… 😦

Sister with the mask on. Year of the monkey!

After sweating it out a bit from our walk, we finally reach…

It was a very crowded pier. Well, it is famous. There are shops lining the walkway as soon as you enter the area.

There are tons of different kinds of shops here. From magic shops to hat shops and also a lot of food establishments to choose from! Specially ones that serve seafood! (It IS a pier….)

I saw one of my most favourite bread spread brands here!

If only I could take all those bottles of creamy goodness with me. .___.

There were also some quirky shops around, like this one.

A left hand store! Who would have thought?

So, anyways, once you go through all the shops and all the restaurants and all the other fun things you’ll see in pier 39 (like a carousel and street performers), you find yourself at the end.

You’ll find this huge welcome sign on the side of this building facing the open sea. And then, on wooden platforms on the water, you’ll find…

Sea Lion Heaven~ They literally just laze around in the sun (or push other sea lions off the platform). You can hear them from afar, as you approach the end of Pier 39. They’re quite amazing creatures.

This one’s my favourite.

Owning that platform like a boss.

Anyways, that’s the end of Part 1 of Day 2 in San Francisco. Part 2 will be all about our trip to the most famous site of all in San Francisco! The Golden Gate Bridge!!